(Newser)
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Lawmakers in Congress are inching closer to deciding, somewhat belatedly, that they shouldn't be allowed to profit by playing the stock market using inside information they have gleaned on Capitol Hill. A bill that bans insider trading by lawmakers and thousands of executive branch officials is heading to the House after passing the Senate 96-3 yesterday, the AP reports. President Obama has promised to sign the bill, which requires stock trades be posted online within 30 days.

"With approval ratings of Congress at an all-time low, this bill represents an opportunity to build some trust with the American people," said Sen. Scott Brown. "The truth is, members of Congress have access to all kinds of sensitive information, and it has to be clear that the information is being used to serve our country, not to make a personal profit." The bill was created largely in response to a 60 Minutes segment that raised questions about stock trades made by John Boehner and by Nancy Pelosi's husband, among others. (Of course, Congress is still exempt from plenty of other federal laws; click to see which ones.)

Weak enforcement. Corporations have a 48 hour limit to file but most corporates file in one day, congress 60 days, why the double standard??

Person12345

Feb 3, 2012 3:01 PM CST

The scary, scary thing about this is that they have to pass a bill to tell themselves not to do insider trading. We all know they are above the laws that the rest of America has to abide by, so now they have a little reminder not to break the law any more. Geeze.

GenericLeftist

Feb 3, 2012 2:24 PM CST

There are so many other ways to commit insider trading, STOCKS? are you kidding me? What about all the land that they buy up when they hear a freeway is being built, then they get the taxpayers to pay them a ridiculous amount for something they would have no idea about if they didn't already work for us. There are probably 100 ways they've figured out to cheat us, big whoop they stopped one of them. I'm not buying this.